HEADLINES

• Coalition considers reversing tobacco display ban
• Smoking has significant influence on our genes and the way they function
• Smoking kills 450 people a year in Coventry
• Canada: New restrictions on tobacco marketing
• Philip Morris said to benefit from child labour

• Coalition considers reversing tobacco display ban

  The tobacco display plan could be scrapped by the coalition government as part of a wider review of regulation, sources have confirmed.

  A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Bis) spokesperson said that the display ban, contested by retailers but supported by health groups, fell within the scope of a review of all regulation 'in the pipeline' to be introduced between June 2010 and April 2011.

  It follows a comment by business secretary Vince Cable that the government was giving "urgent consideration" to the issue.

  The Bis spokesperson added that the tobacco display ban had "not been singled out specifically", however.

  The ban, which followed legislation by the Labour government, plans to prevent retailers displaying tobacco products. It will be introduced in stages, starting with large shops in 2011 and finishing with other shops in 2013.

  But a Populus poll for the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN), which opposes the ban, suggested the public were not inclined to back the move.

  Nearly 80% said the plans should be withdrawn or they would not oppose their withdrawal.

  And just 23% thought the display ban would be ineffective in reducing smoking, compared to 76% for strongly enforcing existing laws to prevent smoking and 64% supporting a clampdown on tobacco smuggling.

  Anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) pointed out Ireland's experience suggests the impact of the display ban on retailers is very limited, however.

  Ireland's Office of Tobacco Control said the number of 15- to 18-year-olds who believed they could buy cigarettes had fallen by one-third since Ireland's display ban was introduced 12 months ago, the Belfast Telegraph reported.

  "This week we learn that fewer young people in Ireland believe they can buy cigarettes than before the ban and, with a year's experience to draw from, support from young people is up to 68%," Ash's director of policy and research Martin Dockrell said.

  "Nor has it been expensive for retailers, a survey from the Association of Convenience Stores shows that the average cost for small shops to comply with the legislation was just £300."

  NFRN national president Parminder Singh said both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, having "stood against" when they were in opposition, should act decisively to reverse the ban.

  "It is precisely the kind of measure that should be first in the deregulation firing line: unwanted, unworkable, unnecessarily costly for struggling small businesses and proven not to achieve its objectives," he said.

  [Correction: Support for the Irish tobacco display ban has risen to 68% among adults, not young people, as stated above.] 

  Source: politics.co.uk, 14 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/aCrswj

• Smoking has significant influence on our genes and the way they function

  In the largest study of its kind, researchers at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) have found that exposure to cigarette smoke can alter gene expression - the process by which a gene's information is converted into the structures and functions of a cell. These alterations in response to smoking appear to have a wide-ranging negative influence on the immune system, and a strong involvement in processes related to cancer, cell death and metabolism.
  
  The scientists indentified 323 unique genes whose expression levels were significantly correlated with smoking behavior in their study of 1,240 people. The changes were detected by studying the activity of genes within white blood cells of study participants.
  
  "Our results indicate that not only individual genes but entire networks of gene interaction are influenced by cigarette smoking," wrote lead author Jac Charlesworth, Ph.D., in the July 15 issue of the open access journal BMC Medical Genomics. Charlesworth, formerly at SFBR, is now a research fellow at the Menzies Research Institute at the University of Tasmania in Australia.
  
  The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Azar and Shepperd families of San Antonio, ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals and the AT&T Foundation. The study is part of SFBR's San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS) which includes 40 families in the Mexican American community.
  
  "Previous studies of gene expression as influenced by smoking have been seriously limited in size with the largest of the in vivo studies including only 42 smokers and 43 non-smokers. We studied 1,240 individuals, including 297 current smokers" Charlesworth said. "Never before has such a clear link between smoking and transcriptomics been revealed, and the scale at which exposure to cigarette smoke appears to influence the expression levels of our genes is sobering".
  
  "Our results indicate that not only individual genes but entire networks of gene interaction are influenced by cigarette smoking. It is likely that this observed effect of smoking on transcription has larger implications for human disease risk, especially in relation to the increased risk of a wide variety of cancers throughout the body as a result of cigarette smoke exposure," Charlesworth said.
  
  All of Charlesworth's ten co-authors on this paper are doctoral level faculty and staff in SFBR's Department of Genetics and members of the group of investigators working on the SAFHS lead by Principal Investigator John Blangero, Ph.D.
  
  SFBR is one of the world's leading independent biomedical research institutions dedicated to advancing health worldwide through innovative biomedical research. Located on a 200-acre campus on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas, SFBR partners with hundreds of researchers and institutions around the world, targeting advances in the fight against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, psychiatric disorders, problems of pregnancy, AIDS, hepatitis, malaria, parasitic infections and a host of other infectious diseases.

  Source: MediLexicon, 14 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/clUWSo

• Smoking kills 450 people a year in Coventry

  Coventry's biggest smoking related diseases killed more than 1,800 people in just four years, shocking new figures show.

  And experts believe that could equate to more than 18,600 years of life lost in the city as a direct result of smoking.

  Coventry’s Smokefree Alliance revealed the heavy toll in its four year plan to convince Coventry to kick the killer habit for good.

  Its new Tobacco Control Strategy reveals that between 2004 and 2007 (the most recent years for which figures are available):

  Heart disease killed 771 people, causing 8,231 years of lost life.

  70 lung cancer victims lost a total of 4,697 years.

  Lung disease caused 321 deaths and 2,581 years of lost life.

  280 people died of strokes, losing an estimated 3,106 years of life.

  Alex Angus, Coventry’s tobacco control co-ordinator, said: “The smoking issue has not been solved, despite the huge progress that has been made.

  "It is still a big challenge for Coventry and one we are really committed to tackling.”

  The city’s new health profile shows men in deprived areas die nearly a decade younger than their neighbours in wealthy suburbs. Poorer women usually die six years earlier. Smoking is the single biggest cause of those health inequalities.

  And many who die early from smoking also suffer a low quality of life during their final years as the terrible diseases take their toll.

  Despite this more than a quarter of adults in the city smoke and the problem is regarded as endemic in some parts.

  Mr Angus warned: “There is also a rising number of people using shisha pipes in Coventry.

  “Using a pipe for 60 minutes is the same as smoking 100-200 cigarettes but people don’t realise the risks.”

  Smoking also has a heavy cost for local businesses. On average city smokers take eight extra sick days per year, as well as hours of “fag breaks” each month.

  And smoking creates 80 per cent of all the litter city centre management firm CV One pays to clean up.

  Huge steps have already been taken to tackle smoking locally.

  In April, Coventry became one of the first cities to allow private firms and charities to earn money for every smoker they help to quit.

  And this month the K2 Fairuz restaurant in Lower Ford Street, was fined £1,800 for flauting the ban on smoking in public places.

  Source: Coventry Telegraph, 13 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/bOxxwl

• Canada: New restrictions on tobacco marketing

  Tobacco companies will no longer be able to advertise in print publications, unless they are delivered to an adult by mail, if a new bill introduced by the federal government on Tuesday becomes law.

  The proposed amendment to the Tobacco Act would repeal an exception that currently allows advertising in publications with an adult readership of at least 85 per cent. If the bill is passed, the revised Tobacco Act would leave tobacco companies with only two possible methods to advertise: signs in places where minors are prohibited, such as bars, and in publications that are delivered by mail to an adult. In provinces where advertising is already banned in bars, such as Quebec, or other restrictions are in place, tobacco companies may have even fewer options.

  At a news conference to announce details of Bill C-32, which also includes a ban on flavoured cigarettes and cigarillos and a requirement for the mini-cigars to be sold in packages of at least 20, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the tougher advertising regulations are in response to a "wave" of tobacco advertising in the last few years in publications that are easily accessible by young people.

  "Of particular concern are the many free publications with contents that appeal to teens and are now available in curbside boxes, at small malls, and bus stops in just about every community in this country," said Aglukkaq, who was referring primarily to free commuter newspapers and entertainment weeklies.

  It's impossible to restrict access by young people to the free publications or to determine if the readership is at least 85 per cent adult, according to a background document provided by the government, which also dated the resurgence of advertising to at least the fall of 2007 and said it has exposed young audiences to tobacco sales pitches.

  "It's time to close the gap so that the current generation of teens is not bombarded by tobacco advertising that makes smoking look cool," the health minister said.

  A spokesman for Imperial Tobacco Canada said the reason advertising increased after 2007 was because of a Supreme Court decision that upheld the right of tobacco companies to advertise, and that the minister's comments about advertisements that make smoking look cool are unfounded and outdated.

  "It's not the case today," said Eric Gagnon. "There's a false perception, but we do not advertise to kids. Imperial Tobacco does not target minors in any of its marketing and advertisement efforts, the focus is really towards adults and we've been doing that based on what the Supreme Court has provided the right for us to do."

  Gagnon said Imperial Tobacco is reserving further comment on the proposed advertising crackdown until it has seen the text of Bill C-32 and is given more clarification on its proposals.

  Imperial Tobacco does not manufacture flavoured tobacco products so the other proposals contained in the bill do not directly affect it, though Gagnon said Imperial Tobacco does support them.

  Flavoured tobacco is commonly used in cigarillos, which the government says are the fastest growing tobacco product on the Canadian market. According to government statistics, 400 million of them were sold in Canada in 2007 compared to only 53 million six years earlier. They are often sold individually, for less than $2, or in "kiddie packs" of four to eight cigarillos.

  They come in a range of fruit and candy flavours such as tropical punch, chocolate mint, strawberry, peach and vanilla, and critics say the packages are designed to look like markers, lip gloss and other products popular with young people.

  "These types of marketing strategies have to stop. Tobacco is not candy and should never be mistaken as such," said the health minister.

  In addition to banning the addition of flavours, the new Tobacco Act would prohibit pictures or graphics of fruit or additives on the packaging so that products cannot even give the appearance of having a flavour. The bill also would bring cigarillos and blunt wraps in line with the packaging requirements for cigarettes, which mandate a minimum quantity of 20 in each package, thereby making them less affordable to young people.

  Many of the proposals contained in Bill C-32 were also in a private member's bill introduced recently by the NDP's Judy Wasylycia-Leis. The MP said Tuesday she is happy the Tories "have taken up my challenge, which was to steal my private member's bill and run with it."

  Health and anti-smoking groups also welcomed the proposals, which were promised by the Conservatives during the last election.

  "Tobacco companies are endlessly innovative and to see the marketing of tobacco products flavoured like ice cream or candy or fruit is simply wrong," said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst at the Canadian Cancer Society. "We're hopeful that MPs will adopt this bill quickly. It's a very important gain for us."

  However, one of Canada's major distributors of cigarillos, Casa Cubana, has described the government's move as "purely anti-business legislation" and said it will fuel the already-thriving contraband tobacco market.

  "This is just purely about attacking the industry," company spokesman Luc Martial said in an interview earlier in the week.

  Source: The Province, 13 July 2010
  Link: http://bit.ly/ds5YgG

• Philip Morris said to benefit from child labour

  Human Rights Watch, the group best known for documenting governmental abuse and war crimes, plans to release a report showing that child and forced labor is widespread on farms that supply a cigarette factory owned by Philip Morris International in Kazakhstan, in Central Asia.
  
  While child labor should be condemned in any setting, the report said, employing children on tobacco farms is particularly hazardous because tobacco field laborers are exposed to high levels of nicotine while doing their jobs.
  
  Only a tiny fraction of Philip Morris’s global tobacco purchases are made in the country, and no tobacco raised on the farms employing child labor went into cigarettes sold outside of former Soviet countries. Philip Morris, after being provided with an advance copy of the report, said it agreed to sweeping changes in its purchasing policies in Kazakhstan.
  
  “Philip Morris International is firmly opposed to child labor,” Peter Nixon, a spokesman, said in a telephone interview from the company’s office in Lausanne, Switzerland.
  
  Although child labor is widespread in agriculture in Central Asia, Human Rights Watch said, the particularly harmful environment on the Kazakh tobacco farms warranted special attention. The report cited conditions it said were dangerous to children and adults alike. Lacking easy access to potable water, for example, laborers had resorted to drinking from irrigation channels contaminated with pesticides, the report said.
  
  The group interviewed 68 tobacco farm employees in one district of Kazakhstan during the harvest last fall, identifying them only by their first names and initials.
  
  All, including the children, were migrant laborers from neighbouring Central Asian countries, mostly from impoverished Kyrgyzstan. The report also documented violations of basic farm safety rules, like laborers wearing open-toed shoes while working with sharp hoes.
  
  Human Rights Watch researchers documented 72 instances of children working in the Kazakh tobacco fields, which employ about a thousand migrants each season.
  
  Many are paid on a piecework basis, by the ton of harvested tobacco. The group said this was an inducement for parents to bring their children into the fields at harvest time. Even then, the report said, families made only a few hundred dollars for a half-year of farm work, after covering debts to farmers for board and travel.
  
  “A company like Philip Morris certainly has the resources to put an end to these practices,” Jane Buchanan, a senior Human Rights Watch researcher and the author, said in an interview.
  
  Mr. Nixon, the Philip Morris spokesman, said the company already had policies in place prohibiting purchases from farms that used child labour. Over the years, he said, this policy had reduced abusive practices at Kazakh tobacco farms — an assertion that Human Rights Watch said was supported in its interviews.
  
  All the same, Mr. Nixon said, Philip Morris would step up its efforts to eliminate child labour. The company, he said, was “appreciative” of Human Rights Watch for drawing the continuing abuse to its attention.
  
  But Ms. Buchanan said Philip Morris bore moral responsibility for the fate of child laborers in Kazakhstan, even though it was not their direct employer, citing precedents established by apparel and athletic shoe companies that over the last decade had demanded Asian suppliers prohibit child labor.
  
  “Companies are supposed to have policies to recognize and rectify problems with human rights in their supply chain,” she said.
  
  That many of the children worked alongside their migrant-laborer parents during the harvest, she said, did not diminish Philip Morris’s responsibility for their safety.
  
  Tobacco can be an unhealthy crop even before it winds up in cigarettes. Nicotine is absorbed through the skin through continual handling of tobacco leaves. The resulting ailment in tobacco farm laborers is called green tobacco sickness, causing nausea, vomiting and dizziness. Rashes are also common.
  
  The report cited studies indicating that laborers can absorb, in one day, the amount of nicotine equivalent to smoking 36 cigarettes.
  
  “Children are especially vulnerable due to their small body size in relation to the dose of nicotine they absorb,” the report said.
  
  The farmers studied by Human Rights Watch supply Philip Morris Kazakhstan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Philip Morris International, which is based in New York.
  
  The company, spun off from its parent, the Altria Group, in 2008, sells cigarettes in 160 countries outside of the United States, including Kazakhstan. Philip Morris USA markets many of the same brands in America, most notably Marlboro, but is a distinct company.
  
  Mr. Nixon said the company would require farmers to sign written contracts with adult laborers during this year’s growing season, and would hire an outside monitor to police farms for compliance with child labor laws.
  
  This year, the company opened a summer camp for the children of migrant laborers in Kazakhstan’s tobacco-producing region. It will also require its suppliers to pay monthly salaries, rather than piecework pay, to discourage migrant parents from enlisting the help of their children.
  
  In 2009, Philip Morris International’s net revenue was $25 billion on sales of cigarettes including globally marketed brands like Marlboro, L&M, Chesterfield and Bond Street.
  
  The company’s purchases in Kazakhstan are tiny compared to its global operations; it bought 1,500 tons in 2009, compared to its global total of 400,000 tons. The company said it contracts with 300 farms in Kazakhstan, employing about 1,200 seasonal workers. These workers are typically accompanied by about 200 children, Mr. Nixon said.
  
  The Kazakh tobacco is used only in local brands unknown outside their markets in former Soviet countries, including Polyot and Apollo-Soyuz.

  Source: New York Times, 13 July 2010
  Link: http://nyti.ms/cMYt1E